


Dogs Are Afraid of Thunder (and so is Padfoot)

by Huntress8611



Series: Padfoot & Prongs [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Astraphobia, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Sirius Black as Padfoot, fear of thunder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-07
Updated: 2017-02-07
Packaged: 2018-09-22 18:42:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9620597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huntress8611/pseuds/Huntress8611
Summary: Dogs are scared of thunder, so what about Padfoot? James learns the answer to that question one stormy night.





	

James woke up groaning, as he had been having a great dream. He heard thunder, but that wasn't why he was awake. He listened carefully, trying to figure out what had woken him. After a while, when he heard nothing, he rolled over, trying to fall back asleep. As another clap of thunder struck, he was jolted from his half-asleep state by a loud, dog-like yelp.

Quickly sitting up, his eyes scanned the dormitory before settling on Sirius' bed, because Sirius was the one who could change into a dog. He quietly got up, sneaking over to his bed, sitting down next to a large, dog-sized lump on the bed.

“Padfoot?” James softly called laying his hand on the lump, “Are you okay?” The questions earned him a low whine from the shaking lump.

“What’s wrong?” asked James, as Padfoot stuck his nose out from under the blankets. Soon, another clap of thunder hit, causing Padfoot to rebury his nose as he curled into a ball, letting out a loud yelp.

Oh, thought James.  _That’s_ what’s wrong. He’s afraid of thunder. He looked around to make sure no one else was up, and once he was satisfied that they were all asleep, turned back to the whimpering, shaking Padfoot.

“Are you afraid of storms, Siri?” James asked softly, which resulted in the dog trying to burrow into the covers as far from James as possible. “Padfoot, it’s okay, don’t run away.” The next clap of thunder shook the tower, and Padfoot let out a loud yelp.

When James lifted up the covers and crawled into Siri’s bed, the big dog immediately snuggled up to his chest, shivering. James wrapped his arms around Padfoot, and whispered “Can you change back? I can help easier if you did. Also, if you want to talk, I don’t speak dog, not to mention, what if someone that  _wasn’t_ Moony, Wormtail or I saw you like this?”

When the next clap of thunder hit, Padfoot let out another yelp, before changing back to a person. Upon changing back, he immediately tried to get closer to James, who tightened his grip with one arm while rubbing Sirius’ back with the other. Still trying to get closer to James whilst simultaneously trying to get smaller, Sirius heard James whispering in his ear, saying “Siri. Shhh.  _Shhh_. It’s okay, you’re okay, we’re all fine. Calm down.”

When Sirius had calmed down a bit, James loosened his grip. This caused Sirius to whine, snuggling closer. He relaxed when James immediately tightened his grip, murmuring “Hey, it’s okay. I’m not going anywhere.”

Sirius ducked down, mumbling “I’m sorry I woke you up, James. You can go back to sleep.”

“Hey, don’t say sorry,” said James, “It’s fine. What I do want is for you to tell me why you didn’t wake me up in the first place.”

“I didn’t want to be a bother. I can handle it on my own.”

“Yes,” replied James, “curling up is a quivering ball as Padfoot is handling it  _perfectly_  fine.”

Sirius was about to respond when he was cut off by the loudest thunderclap yet, which seemed to be the start of the  _actual_ storm seeing as it was followed by a continuous stream of more lightning and thunder.

The initial thunderclap prompted Padfoot to bury his face into Prongs’ shirt, letting out a low whine. The following thunder had him shaking harder, whimpering into James’ shirt and James tightened his grip while still rubbing Padfoot’s back.

When the thunder didn't stop, James felt something wet on his shirt, and he looked down to see Padfoot crying. “Padfoot, it’s alright, you’re safe. I’ll protect you. The storm can’t hurt you, not in here.” It didn’t work, and soon Sirius was on the edge of having a panic attack.

Once Sirius began to hyperventilate, James got up, pulling Sirius with him. Not once loosening his grip, he dragged the trembling animangus into the bathroom, shutting the door and sitting on the floor. From what he knew, panic attacks often caused people to feel sick, which, along with the added bonus of privacy, was what made him drag Sirius to the bathroom.

Quickly pulling him back into a hug, he whispered comforting words into Padfoot’s ear as he rode out the panic attack. Once Sirius’ breathing slowed a bit, he began to hysterically sob.

“Siri, you’re gonna make yourself sick, and that’s gonna hurt. I don’t want to scare you more, but you have to calm down a bit.” Not able to calm down, after about five minutes of sobbing he began to retch, making James help him over to the toilet. After he had emptied his stomach five times over, he stopped sobbing, not wanting to throw up more.

“Jamsie, it hurts,” whimpered Siri, rubbing at his throat.

“Hey, don’t do that so hard,” said James, grabbing Siri’s hands, causing him to whimper. Seeing that Siri was in more pain now that he wasn’t rubbing his throat, James lifted a hand and moved it towards Sirius’ throat. Sirius started to squirm away from the hand, causing it to still and James to whisper, “It’s okay, I’m gonna help.”

When Sirius calmed down, James slowly brought his hand up and gently laid it just under his throat, letting him get used to it before slowly moving upwards. Soon enough, James was massaging Padfoot's throat, causing him to sigh and lean into the touch. After a minute, James tried to move his hand, but he was stopped by a low, quiet moan. He moved his hand back to Siri’s neck.

Once the storm was over, he got up with Padfoot and walked him to his bed. When they got there, Sirius hesitated, and at James’ questioning look, he shyly asked, “Would you please stay?”

“Of course, Siri,” said James, who pulled back the covers gesturing to Sirius to get in. Once Sirius was in the bed, James crawled in after him, tucking the both of them in. James pulled Sirius’ head down to his chest and wrapped his arms around him.

“G’night, prongs,” and “G’night, Padfoot,” were the last things they said before drifting off into a peaceful sleep.


End file.
